Managing Your Speed Near the Airport

The NTSB recently released its final report (NTSB ERA22FA318) on a midair collision involving a turbine-powered Piper PA46 (JetProp DLX) and a Cessna 172 at North Vegas Airport (KVGT) in July 2022. Four people aboard the two aircraft died.

This tragedy haunts me. I briefly met the owners of the Piper JetProp the day before the midair. They were among about 50 PA46 owners at a safety meeting at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (KCOE) where I gave a presentation. I didn’t get to know them—we just exchanged pleasantries. But the next day….

The NTSB analysis cites several factors, including the high speed of the Piper as it descended from the north over the airport’s parallel runways and flew a sweeping approach to runway 30L. The speedy low-wing airplane overshot the base-to-final turn and collided with the Cessna, which was doing pattern work on the shorter parallel runway 30R.

The big lesson that I take from this event, and a similar midair at Watsonville, California (KWVI), also in 2022 (NTSB WPR22FA309), is managing speed in the vicinity of airports. We fly high-performance (at least for GA) aircraft because we want to go fast. But there are times when we need to slow down—both our knots and the pace of our procedures.

I made the tables below (download PDF here) to show how much time is required to reach the airport from 10, 5, and 3 nm at various speeds (assuming no wind). If you’re flying a VFR pattern, you’d enter a downwind at about 0.75 nm from the airport, but you get the point.

For example, from 10 nm at 180 KIAS, you reach the airport in 03:20 (min:sec). If you decelerate to reach the 10 nm mark at 120 KIAS and continue at that speed, the remaining time to the airport is 05:00. Staying fast all the way to the pattern saves 01:40.

Perhaps a 5 nm starting point is more reasonable. At 180 KIAS, you arrive at the airport in 01:40. Reduce speed to 120 KIAS, and you cover the final 5 nm in 02:30. Maintaining 180 KIAS all the way in saves 01:10.

Assume that you arrive 3 nm from airport at 180 KIAS. At that speed, you need just 01:00 to get to the airport. Decelerate to arrive at the 3 nm mark at 120 KIAS, however, and the time remaining is 01:30. Going fast until downwind saves 30 seconds.

Of course, if you’re flying at one of the higher speeds in the table, you’d probably be decelerating as you get closer to the pattern. Those more mathematically talented than I can adjust the formulas accordingly.

Double the velocity and the turn radius quadruples or cut it in half and the turn radius goes down by a factor of four.

But the main point remains. What’s the rush? You’re saving at most a couple of minutes. More importantly, you’re cutting the time available to observe and adjust for other traffic, configure for landing, and communicate. And as the midair at KVGT reminds us, turn radius at a given bank angle is dependent on speed. In fact, as Catherine Cavagnaro explained in “Timid Turns” (AOPA Pilot, November 2024), “Double the velocity and the turn radius quadruples or cut it in half and the turn radius goes down by a factor of four.”

Our avionics don’t have a “speed anticipation marker” like the top-of-descent (TOD) label and blue altitude arcs on many moving maps that show us when to begin descents and at what point we’ll reach a target altitude. So to help pilots get a better sense of how much time they need to slow down in various situations, such as setting up to fly a VFR pattern or to configure for an instrument approach, I have them complete a simple exercise.

• Set up normal cruise power and configuration, preferably with autopilot ON in HDG and ALT modes. Flying with the AP on takes random human inputs out of the mix, but you should also hand-fly the maneuver.
• Start a timer, and then smoothly set your initial approach-level configuration, used in the terminal environment as you fly the initial and perhaps intermediate segments of an approach. In my Beechcraft A36, that’s typically about 18 in MP with the prop set 2300 or 2500 RPM, flaps and landing gear UP. This results in 120-125 KIAS level. The transition from normal cruise requires about 90 seconds. If you don’t have specific power settings in mind, try using the bottom of the green arc on the MP gauge or tachometer as a first approximation.
• Repeat the process, starting again at normal cruise, but at the appropriate speed, extending flaps and/or landing gear to your normal approach setting, again noting the time required to decelerate to your usual approach-level profile.
• Try the exercise again while establishing a descent at about 500 fpm as you would when planning to arrive at pattern altitude at least a couple miles from the airport, or when tracking a glideslope or glidepath.

The information you collect can help you know how much lead time you need to establish a stable profile for a particular situation. For example, if you’re complying with an ATC instruction to keep your speed up, the data help you anticipate when you need to slow down as the mileage to the FAF ticks down.

I’m fond of an adage attributed to the Roman emperor Augustus: Festina lente (literally “hasten slowly”). Webster’s expands the English definition to “proceed expeditiously but prudently,” wisdom to be followed at all times, but especially near airports.

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Bruce Williams

Bruce Williams is the owner of BruceAir, LLC, an aviation consulting, training, and pilot-services company based in Seattle, WA. He has been a pilot since the early 1970s, and he is a certified flight instructor and FAASTeam representative in the Seattle area. Today, he focuses on training in technically advanced aircraft (TAA), the Beechcraft Bonanza series, and stall/spin/upset recovery courses in an Extra 300L aerobatic aircraft. He also instructs at Galvin Flying Services at Boeing Field. During a 15-year career at Microsoft, he worked on six versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. In the 1980s, he edited the Western Flyer (now the General Aviation News). He is also the author of two books about using PC-based simulation to complement flight training, plus many features on a variety of topics for aviation-focused periodicals.Bruce publishes an aviation blog at https://bruceair.wordpress.com/.

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• Managing Your Speed Near the Airport - March 12, 2025